


Holes In Your Face.

by kotabear24



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - School, Elementary School, Gen, Kid Fic, Kid!Harry, M/M, Underage - Freeform, kid!louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-20
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-12 09:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/809818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kotabear24/pseuds/kotabear24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired from <br/>http://tamedvoices.tumblr.com/post/50853519327/scrumptiouslou-monkey-see-monkey-do</p><p>#super emotional    #about harry and louis in a playground setting    #and harry wants to play with the cool kids    #and harry is just a baby and louis should probably not want to hang out with him because it’ll ruin his cool reputation    #but he’s so unbearably fond of harry    #he lets him play with him    #and he makes fun of him a little    #and one day one of the other kids makes fun of harry too    #and harry smiles but louis can tell he’s upset by the way his dimple doesn’t show    #and louis goes over and shoves the other kid    #and he says ‘that’s only okay when i do it’    #and he gets in trouble for violence    #but when he’s in time out harry sits closer to him    #and sneaks him candies    #and harry might be his favorite after all   (x)</p><p>Louis likes Harry's socks and the holes in Harry's cheeks when he smiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holes In Your Face.

Louis was seven when he met Harry, and his life took a downward spiral from there.

Louis had loads of friends, and he was smart and he was funny and he was the best in his Youth Center football club and he was the only one in his year who could climb all the way across the monkey bars without falling or hurting his hands. He was cool and everyone thought so, too.

Harry was just a little tiny kindergartener who sometimes sucked on his thumbs and his hair was short but it waved a little at the ends and looked stupid, and his big eyes were sometimes blue and sometimes green and he cried a lot sometimes. 

One day at recess, Louis kicked the kickball and it went over the fence, where all the babies played hide and seek and Four Square until the big kids went back inside. Nobody wanted to go get the ball, and Louis was in a good mood so he just huffed and ran, speedy-fast, to the fence and jumped over it.

A little boy with weird hair and pale skin had picked up the ball and was sitting in the dirt alone next to the stone wall, bouncing the ball off the ground between his legs, and Louis wanted it back.

“Hey!” He shouted, coming to stand over the boy. “That’s _my_ ball!”

He expected the boy to argue, or maybe even cry, but he just smiled. “Oh,” he said, picking up the ball off a bounce. “Sorry, then. Here ya go!” The boy handed the ball up to Louis, who grabbed it and tucked it under an arm.

Louis looked the boy up and down. “What’s your name?” He asked, glad the little boy hadn’t started crying.

“’M Harry!” The boy said with a little wave and a big smile. “Who’re you?”

“’M Louis,” Louis replied, puffing his chest out a little. “I’m a second-grader.”

“Oh, okay!” Harry answered brightly, instead of being impressed and a little scared, like he was supposed to. Louis kind of liked it. “I’m in Kinder-erm, kindergar…ben…” Harry trailed off with his head tilted sideways like he was sure he hadn’t said the word right, but didn’t know how to fix it. 

“Kindergarten?” Louis supplied smugly. 

“Yeah!” Harry said brightly. “ _Kindergarten_. I’m in that.”

Louis made to respond, but his friends started calling to him to hurry up. Louis calmed them with a backward glance and then turned around to Harry, who was still smiling. Louis shifted, finding he didn’t really want to say goodbye because Harry was nice enough, even if he was a little baby. “Well, I hafta go, now,” he said eventually. “You should probably go find your friends.”

“I don’t have any,” Harry said, sounding a little unaffected, but Louis gaped. 

“ _No friends_?!” He asked loudly. 

Harry bit his lip, looking apprehensive like he’d just started wondering if it was a bad thing. “Erm, no?” He said. “Nobody wants to play with me.”

“Well, that’s stupid,” Louis said immediately. He glanced back to his friends again and sighed. “Do you wanna come play kickball with me and my friends ‘til we leave?”

Harry smiled and nodded. “Yeah!” he said eagerly, standing up and dusting his khaki shorts off. His socks were pulled high up his calves, and were decorated with brightly-colored stripes that matched his shirt.

Louis grabbed Harry’s wrist and pulled him along, up to the fence. He threw the ball over the fence and then started climbing over it, leaving Harry behind. At the top of the fence, Louis looked down and paused when he noticed Harry standing there, toes pointed inward a little and sucking on a thumb a little. “Aren’t you comin’?” Louis asked him when he just stared up at Louis.

“I don’t know how to do that,” Harry admitted a little shyly. 

Louis sighed and hopped back down and then grabbed the fence, poking a tennis shoe in a hole in the chain-link. “Just put one foot in, like this,” he demonstrated, “and hold onto the fence real tight, or you’ll fall over.” Harry copied a little awkwardly, and then Louis said, “Now, do the other foot, and then move that one – yeah, and find a place for it like this – good, now keep doin’ it – right.” Harry slowly made progress while all Louis’ friends picked up the game again, and when they got to the top, Louis jumped over, dropping to the ground. Harry stayed straddling it and shook his head when Louis told him to come down. 

“It’s too high!” Harry said, and leaned forward, clutching the fence for dear life.

“Harry, you’re almost as tall as it!” Louis said in exasperation. “Just drop down!”

“No!” Harry said, starting to sniffle.

Louis huffed. “Well, how ‘bout if I catch you, then?” He offered. “Just drop down, and I’ll get my arms around you, okay?”

“…Promise?” Harry asked carefully. He peeked and saw Louis nodding, and took a deep breath.

When Harry dropped down, Louis hastily wrapped his arms around Harry’s middle and hugged him tight, like he did with his little sister whenever she wouldn’t be quiet. Harry had stopped crying, though, and Louis let go and said, “Such a _baby_ ,” but Harry knew Louis wasn’t mad because Louis smiled, so it was okay, and Harry smiled with two big holes in his face, on his cheeks. They played kickball and Louis was nice even when Harry missed some tosses and missed the ball when it was his turn to kick it. One boy tried to make fun of Harry but Louis just yelled at him ‘cause Harry was a baby still and sometimes babies didn’t have good kickers on their legs yet, and nobody made fun of Harry after that. 

When all the second-graders were called in from recess, Louis gave Harry a hug and said goodbye, hopping the fence like everyone else. Harry ran to the fence after Louis, but he was too slow and had to climb up slowly and carefully on the fence, and he couldn’t get down. 

Harry stayed straddling the fence, crying because he was scared and also because the bar hurt his boy bits if he moved a certain way. The teacher called in all the boys and girls from Harry’s class and Harry cried when they all lined up because Harry was the line leader for that day. The teacher counted heads and started looking around, scared, and it wasn’t until then that Harry noticed he was by a tree and the teacher maybe couldn’t see him, so Harry laid down and clutched the fence like before Louis helped him down and cried.

Eventually, though, the teacher’s aide came and found him and helped him down, holding his hand and walking him back into the school, scolding him for having run all the way over there all by his own and not with friends who could help him or at least come tell a teacher if he needed help. Harry didn’t bother telling her that he didn’t have friends, except maybe now for Louis. Instead, he nodded, thumb in his mouth and eyes watering again at being scolded, as his teacher’s aide told him not to get stuck on the fence again. 

The next day, Harry was wearing orange socks with footballs on them, matching his orange t-shirt with a football on. Louis found Harry off on his own again, and instead of waiting for the ball to go over the fence, Louis invited Harry again to come play kickball with his friends. Harry accepted and Louis caught him on the other side of the fence, just like the day before, and they played kickball and Louis teased him quietly but with a smile that said Harry wasn’t a stupid baby at all, and that it was alright that Harry missed the ball or didn’t throw it far enough – so Harry smiled the smile with the two holes in his face that Louis liked seeing.

A boy called Stan kicked the ball far, and Harry had to go chase it, hitting almost the far fence, and just then, Louis’ teacher blew the whistle. Louis shouted out goodbyes to Harry, and Harry started to panic. He called out for Louis to wait, and ran towards him, but he was still too slow and all the other boys and girls were shouting, too, so Louis couldn’t hear Harry. Harry plopped down in the patchy grass and cried, wondering how he’d get down from the fence this time, knowing nobody in his class would come help and he couldn’t do it himself. 

Finally, Harry sniffled and went to pick up the forgotten ball, leaving it in the center of the field for the next group of boys and girls to play with, and he sat down next to the fence, not wanting to get stuck for so long this time. Harry’s teacher blew the whistle and Harry started crying, knowing he was about to get into trouble for going off on his own again. It wasn’t as long, that time, for his teacher’s aide to find him, but the walk back to the school felt longer as Harry sucked on his thumb through his sniffles while the teacher scolded him until she fell silent.

The next day, Harry was wearing socks with zig-zags on, and his shirt was stripedy with zig-zags and dark colors. When Louis showed up and invited him over, Harry said no, and Louis asked why. Harry told him he couldn’t get over the fence at the end of the recess by himself, and Louis felt awful and apologized a million times. Still, Harry didn’t want to go, so Louis looked around and dragged Harry to the big playground area. All Louis’ friends followed him, the kickball laying forgotten on the other side of the fence, and Louis teased Harry when he was too scared to go down the slide backwards and when he stumbled on the tricky bridge with the wiggly floor – but Louis made sure to smile and poke Harry in his tummy so Harry knew it was okay that he was a scaredy-cat and that Louis wasn’t annoyed with him. 

When Louis’ teacher called him in, Louis gave Harry a hug and slide down the slide backwards on his tummy, leaving Harry behind him to wave a little sadly. Louis wished they had whole recess together. 

That day, Harry didn’t get scolded.

The next day, Harry was wearing one blue sock and one green, matching his green shirt with a blue dinosaur on it, when he told Louis in secret that he always wanted to play Four Square but none of the boys and girls in his class would let him. Louis puffed up his chest and dragged Harry over to the chalked-up lines, seeing all the babies Harry’s age get scared when he marched up to them looking angry. 

“You little stupid kids better be nice to my Harry,” he said – quietly, so the teacher wouldn’t hear – and the kids all nodded. Louis instantly smiled and then they all took turns playing, and Louis kept winning every time it was his turn, except when Harry was in the squares because he wanted Harry to have fun in Four Square, since he never got to play before – but he did tease Harry when Harry missed, and glared at the little babies who laughed at him because they were stupid and didn’t know how to smile so Harry wouldn’t get his feelings hurt.

When Louis’ teacher blew her whistle, Louis hugged Harry and Harry kissed his cheek, making his tummy feel all squirmy, like when he got in trouble except different. 

The next day, Harry’s socks were purple with white little dots on the tops, matching his purple-and-white sweater-vest. Louis was playing tag with his friends when Harry’s class came outside, and Louis abandoned the game to catch him, and they ran back and joined the game again. Harry didn’t know how to play tag, and Louis wasn’t a very good teacher, so Harry broke the rules a lot and didn’t understand why people kept making him ‘it’ and then didn’t want to be next to him. After everyone ran away from him, Harry started crying and sat down on the ground, looking around to find Louis with big sad eyes. His eyes were green that day.

Louis ran over to Harry and knelt down, petting his weird hair and pulling the thumb out of his mouth so he could understand what Harry was saying when Louis asked what was wrong. Harry told him why he was crying – because even his friend, Louis, didn’t want to be his friend anymore – and Louis assured him he was still Harry’s friend and that he loved him lots and that he was a silly little baby for thinking that, and Louis tried to explain the rules a little better. 

Harry was just feeling better and sniffling when one of Louis’ friends started snickering and teasing Harry, calling him a stupid little baby. Harry tried to smile it away except the boy didn’t smile the right way so Harry didn’t know if the boy was joking, and Harry’s grin wasn’t like the one he had after Louis teased, with the holes in his face. 

So Louis stood up and left Harry on the ground with his non-holey smile and marched over to the boy, shouting, “Be quiet, stupid boy!” and pushed the boy to the ground.

The boy scraped his elbow and started crying, a little blood showing on his elbow, and a teacher swooped in almost immediately. The boy was taken to the nurse and Louis was taken to time-out, next to the building in front of the Four Square games, and Harry looked really lonely after Louis was gone. 

Eventually, though, Harry slowly sneaked over to him – because time-out meant being alone so Louis could Think About What He Did – and sat next to him, their legs touching. 

Harry didn’t say ‘thank you’, but he _did_ say, “I have something; wanna see?”

Louis nodded, and Harry reached into the pocket of his sweater-vest and pulled out two Tootsie Rolls – one chocolate and one vanilla. “Do you want one?” Harry asked a little shyly, and Louis nodded. Harry held them out for Louis to pick (Louis took the chocolate) and then opened the other one on his own. 

After Louis got the Tootsie Roll unstuck from his teeth, he told Harry, “Your socks are stupid,” but he smiled, so Harry knew he really liked them, and his face got the holes in them when he smiled.


End file.
